14 July 2012

Brainwash you while you're sleeping
While in your traffic jam
Brainwash you while you're weeping
While still a baby in your pram

Brainwashed by the military
Brainwashed under duress
Brainwashed by the media
You're brainwashed by the press

Brainwashed by computer
Brainwashed by mobile phones
Brainwashed by the satellite
Brainwashed to the bone

Sssh! Obamabot "Bainwashing" Session in Progress

"What
they’re saying is, on the basis of the facts available to us, untrue."

- Jonathan Chait

Sssh! Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine, you'll make them cry!

By Jonathan Chait

The debate over Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital is strange
and discomfiting because it is a nonsense argument within a nonsense
argument. The original nonsense argument is Mitt Romney’s claim that his
business experience lends him unique insight into solving the economic
crisis. In fact, the considerable skills Romney displayed in business
tell you nothing about whether his economic policies would address the
recession. Rather than make that complicated point, President Obama and
his allies instead have attacked Romney’s record itself. And what
they’re saying is, on the basis of the facts available to us, untrue.

Given the centrality this has taken within the campaign, I wish I
had focused on it sooner, because the most narrow point here is the
most important: The ads attacking Romney are based on pure conjecture.
Obama has an ad saying of Romney, “he shipped jobs to China and Mexico.” But Bain Capital did those things after Romney stopped running the company.
It would be accurate to say that Romney’s firm did those things, and
fair — in my opinion — to hold Romney largely responsible for his firm’s
work. But Obama isn’t saying Romney’s firm shipped jobs overseas, he’s
saying Romney shipped jobs overseas.

That depends on showing that Romney was more involved in the
company than he says, and that his former partners say. Reporting by Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones and the Boston Globehas shown that Romney’s formal ties to Bain Capital did continue even after he took a leave of absence, and the Huffington Post today shows that Romney participated in board meetings of a Bain-owned firm. Romney has so far refused to say whether he held meetings or made decisions after officially stepping down. But the best explanation so far is the one Intel Kevin made yesterday(and was bolstered by John King’s reporting):
When he officially stepped down, Romney remained the titular head of
Bain Capital, legally responsible but not making any managerial
decisions.

The existence of a “larger truth” does not justify the Obama
campaign’s ads that assume a role that they haven't proven and probably
isn't accurate. But there is a larger truth here. Ben Wallace-Wells’s narrative about Romney’s business career
explains how pivotal a role he played in reshaping the face of the
American economy. (The piece is extremely fair and in many ways
flattering to Romney — National Review’sReihan Salam
praised it fulsomely.) In the quarter century after World War II, the
economy grew rapidly and also grew more equal, and workers grew
accustomed to job security in a world where social ties bound executives
(like George Romney) from ruthlessly paring their workforce or paying
themselves exorbitantly. Ben quotes Neil Fligstein, an
economics-sociology professor at the University of California, Berkeley,
who told him that Romney and his Bain colleagues “were agents of the
shareholder value revolution.” This is a way of saying they helped
transform the economy into a place where the owners of capital were able
to extract every last drop of value from their firms, which made the
face of the business world both more productive and more cruel.

Now, what this development tells you about governing the country
is another matter altogether. My conclusion is that, as businesses found
they either didn’t need to or could no longer afford to carry the
burden of social responsibility to their communities they once carried,
the job of doing so has to fall upon the government. That is, you can be
a pro-Bain liberal. There are other conclusions one could draw, of
course, as Romney seems to have done. But the main point is that the
role of business is different than the role of government — even if you
deny that businesses have social responsibilities, government still
does. (That's a point Obama himself made yesterday.)

Romney’s political problem is that the changes to the business
world he helped unleash are unpopular. Whether or not the old world of
benevolent corporations of the sort his father ran are justifiable or
can survive in a global economy, people liked them. The notion that
businesses have no obligation save making money for their shareholders
is a hard sell, both conceptually and in the practical outcomes it
creates, like mass layoffs. Romney is attempting to portray his business
experience as “creating jobs,” but he was actually in the business of
creating wealth. Obama has every right to expose that contradiction. He
doesn’t have a right to make things up in the process.

As lawyer and blogger John Hinderaker notes, those claiming that Romney committed any crimes or perpetrated fraud in 1999 is simply ignorant of the law.

…the fact that Romney was a “controlling person” for purposes of
securities laws has nothing to do with whether he was running the
company; nor is his status as a shareholder or director -- Romney owned
the company until a buyout was completed in 2002 -- relevant. And
whatever titles may have been recited in the filings shed no light on
whether he made the investment decisions that the Obama administration
now wants to criticize.

Sadly, while The Times keeps spinning Obama's narrative for him, they are allowing the truth to go unreported.

Brainwashed - George Harrison

Brainwashed in our childhood
Brainwashed by the school
Brainwashed by our teachers
And brainwashed by all their rules
Brainwashed by our leaders
By our Kings and Queens
Brainwashed in the open
And brainwashed behind the scenes

God God God
A voice cries in the wilderness
God God God
It was on the longest night
God God God
An eternity of darkness
God God God
Someone turned out the spiritual light

Brainwashed by the Nikkei
Brainwashed by Dow Jones
Brainwashed by the FTSE
Nasdaq and secure loans
Brainwashed us from Brussels
Brainwashed us in Bonn
Brainwashed us in Washington
Westminster in London

God God God
You are the wisdom that we seek
God God God
The lover that we miss
God God God
Your nature is eternity
God God God
Your are Existence, Knowledge, Bliss

The soul does not love, it is love itself
It does not exist, it is existence itself
It does not know, it is knowledge itself
How to Know God, pag 130

They brainwashed my great uncle
Brainwashed my cousin Bob
They even got my grandma
When she was working for the mob

Brainwash you while you're sleeping
While in your traffic jam
Brainwash you while you're weeping
While still a baby in your pram

Brainwashed by the military
Brainwashed under duress
Brainwashed by the media
You're brainwashed by the press

Brainwashed by computer
Brainwashed by mobile phones
Brainwashed by the satellite
Brainwashed to the bone

God God God
Won't you lead us through this mess
God God God
From the places of concrete
God God God
Nothing's worse than ignorance
God God God
I just won't accept defeat

God God God
Must be something I forgot
God God God
Down on Bullshit Avenue
God God God
If we can only stop the rot
God God God
Wish that you'd brainwash us too

(Oh, no, no, no)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
"

- Barack Obama

My job here is done.

Would I lie to you? - Eurythmics

Would I lie to you?
Would I lie to you honey? (Oh, no, no, no)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
My friends, know what's in store
I won't be here anymore
I've packed my bags
I've cleaned the floor
Watch me walkin', walkin' out the door
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it
Would I lie to you?

Would I lie to you honey? (Now honey would I lie?)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
Tell you straight, no intervention
To your face, no deception
You're the biggest fake
That much is true
Had all I can take
Now I'm leaving you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it, oh yes I will
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it (Make it, make it, make it, make it, make it, make it, make it)
Would I lie to you? (I'll make it, make it)
Would I lie to you honey?
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie?

Would I lie to you?
Would I lie to you honey? (Oh, no, no, no)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
My friends, know what's in store
I won't be here anymore
I've packed my bags
I've cleaned the floor

Would I lie to you?
Would I lie to you honey? (Oh, no, no, no)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
My friends, know what's in store
I won't be here anymore
I've packed my bags
I've cleaned the floor
Watch me walkin', walkin' out the door
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it
Would I lie to you?

Would I lie to you honey? (Now honey would I lie?)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
Tell you straight, no intervention
To your face, no deception
You're the biggest fake
That much is true
Had all I can take
Now I'm leaving you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it, oh yes I will
(Believe me) I'll make it, make it (Make it, make it, make it, make it, make it, make it, make it)
Would I lie to you? (I'll make it, make it)
Would I lie to you honey?
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie?

Would I lie to you?
Would I lie to you honey? (Oh, no, no, no)
Now would I say something that wasn't true?
I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?
My friends, know what's in store
I won't be here anymore
I've packed my bags
I've cleaned the floor

"Senate Democrats will push a one-year tax cut proposal for individual
Americans earning $200,000 or less annually, setting the stage for a
showdown in coming weeks with Republicans over extending the Bush tax
cuts, according to a new plan circulating on Capitol Hill. Couples with a combined $250,000 income will also be covered by the Democratic proposal."

Maintaining
current rates for those individual earning $200,000 or less annually or
couples with a combined $250,000 income IS NOT A TAX CUT.

According to Princeton, a tax cut is the act of reducing taxation. The
same definition is given by the Free Dictionary online: the act of
reducing taxation. Again, maintaining current rates is not a tax cut in any way, shape, or form.

I ask
you to take note of the fact that Obama and the Democrats have gone from
campaigning on making these "cuts" permanent to now offering a
"one-year extension."

There is a reason for the change for those smart enough to understand
math and to those of us who listen closely to the words Democrats say:

[From a 2010 article] "In
the near term, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer raised the possibility
that Congress will only temporarily extend middle-class tax cuts set to
expire at the end of the year. He pointedly suggested that making them
permanent would be too costly.

Tax cuts enacted under former
President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire at the end of the year,
affecting taxpayers at every income level. President Barack Obama
proposes to permanently extend them for individuals making less than
$200,000 a year and families making less than $250,000 — at a cost of
about $2.5 trillion over the next decade.

“As the House and Senate debate what to do with the expiring Bush tax
cuts in the coming weeks, we need to have a serious discussion about
their implications for our fiscal outlook, including whether we can
afford to permanently extend them before we have a real plan for
long-term deficit reduction.”

- Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), 2010

That was in 2010, but fear not. His aims haven't changed!

Following
a speech before the Centre for American Progress, House Minority Whip
Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said Monday. 9 July 2012, he would support tax
increases on those who earn less than $250,000 at some point in the
future.

“The president initially has it about right, at the ($250,000 level).
But I would be prepared to go lower at some time in the future than
that. Our economy is still struggling and I think going
lower than that would have adverse impact on the economy. I don’t think
going higher than that will have an adverse impact.”

- Steny Hoyer, (D-MD), 13 July 2012

Top 1%

Share of Total Income Earned: 13.3%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 22.3%

Top 2-5%

Share of Total Income Earned: 12.5%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 17.3%

Top 20%

Share of Total Income Earned: 50.8%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 67.9%

Middle 20%

Share of Total Income Earned: 14.1%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 9.4%

Bottom 40%

Share of Total Income Earned: 14.9%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 4.1%

Source: Congressional Budget Office

The Top 40%

Share of Total Income Earned: 71.0%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 86.5%

The Bottom 60%

Share of Total Income Earned: 29.0%

Share of Total Federal Income Taxes Paid: 13.5%

In 2009, the top 400 taxpayers paid almost as
much in federal income taxes as the entire bottom 50 percent
combined.

You will see a lot of news on this report. What you are unlikely to see, though, are these facts from the CBO report:

On just federal-level taxes, the top 1 p% of income earners
already have an effective tax rate of 29%. (This should please
Warren Buffett!)

President Obama has achieved his goal of increasing redistribution:
The top 20% has seen its after-tax share of total income fall,
especially the top 1%, while the lower income groups have seen
their share rise.

The top 1% pays well over its “fair share”—it pays a much
larger share of taxes (22.3%) than the share of income it earns
(13.3%)—as does the full top 20%. Meanwhile, the bottom
income groups pay a much smaller share of taxes than their share of
income: The bottom 40% earned 14.9% of income, but paid
just 4.1% of federal taxes. (See chart)

So when the President and the his supporters complain that the rich
are not paying their fair share of taxes, and Warren Buffett suggests
another tax to ensure that they start paying more, someone should show
them this government report. If the argument is that America must ensure
that the rich pay, it must just be rhetoric—because they are already
paying.

THERE ARE COMING FOR YOU EVENTUALLY because, as I've always reminded:

BigGovernment robs the middle class for the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks…that’s where the money is!

A net 194,000 jobs, but the labour participation rate average over his term is down to 64.5% -- 2.715 % decrease.

Blame and Bang- REM

If you could see yourself now, baby
It's not my fault
You used to be so in control
You're going to roll right over this one
Just roll me over, let me go
You're laying blame
Take this as no, no, no
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
It's not my thing so let it go
If you could see yourself now baby,
The tables have turned
The whole world hinges on your swings
Your secret life of indiscreet discretions
I'd turn the screw and leave the screen,
Don't point your finger,
You know that's not my thing
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
It's not my thing so let it go, nowYou've got a little worry,
I know it all too well,
I've got your number,
But so does every kiss-and-tell
Who dares to cross your threshold,
Or happens on your way,
Stop laying blame
You know that's not my thing
You know that's not my thing,
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
It's not my thing so let it go
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
It's not my thing so let it go

You kiss on me, tug on me, rub on me, jump on me,
You bang on me, beat on me, hit on me, let go on me,
You let go on me

Stephanie Cutter has dun gun an jump da shark. I've heard she's quite athletic from the pole and cutting deals on the side, which could be a felony. /s

By Ed Morrissey

CNN reported last night that the accusations from Team Obama of
felonious conduct are sheer nonsense and lies — and got that message
from four executives at Bain, two of whom are “active” supporters of
Barack Obama. John King spoke to all four, three of whom are Democrats,
and all four said that Mitt Romney left Bain in a big hurry in 1999 in
order to work full time on rescuing the Salt Lake City Olympics. The
rushed departure created a lot of paperwork headaches as Bain tried to
unwind Romney from leadership, which required a significant amount of
time. That’s why the company had Romney’s name on their SEC paperwork
the next two years, as King reports:

CNN isn’t alone in debunking the ludicrous charge of felonious conduct made by Team Obama. FactCheck concluded that even with the “new” evidence produced by the Boston Globe, it still points to the same conclusion:

None of the SEC
filings show that Romney was anything but a passive, absentee owner during that
time, as both Romney and Bain have long said. It should not surprise anyone
that Romney retained certain titles while he was working out the final
disposition of his ownership, for example….

We would reassess
our judgment should somebody come up with evidence that Romney took part in
specific management decisions or had any active role (not just a title) at Bain
after he left to head the Olympics. But nothing we’ve seen directly contradicts
Romney’s statements — which he has certified as true under pain of federal prosecution
— that he “has not had any active role” with Bain or “been involved in the
operations” of Bain since then.

And we wish to note, we’re not alone in this
judgment.

FactCheck links to the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, as I did this morning, as well as to Fortune’s Dan Primack in his July 2 review of the same data, this time from a Mother Jones “exposé.” Primack also has an update, and it also debunks the Obama campaign’s accusations:

But the
contemporaneous Bain documents show that Romney was indeed telling the truth
about no longer having operational input at Bain — which, one should note, is
different from no longer having legal or financial ties to the firm.

As Fortune wrote
earlier, Romney left Bain suddenly — rather than as part of an organized
transition plan — after being asked to lead an Olympic organizing committee
that had spiraled out of control. Moreover, it was unclear in February 1999 if
Romney’s leave of absence would be permanent, or if he would return (as he had
in 1994, after losing a U.S. Senate race to Ted Kennedy). He didn’t formally
give up his title and firm ownership until 2002, once the Games had been
successful and he was interested in other elective office. In the interim, he
continued to fulfill legal obligations such as signing certain documents — but
actual investment and managerial decisions were being made by others.

Put it simply: Team Obama is lying, and it continues to lie about
Romney. They are desperate to find a way to make Romney’s time at Bain
work in their favor, and that desperation has nearly reached
pathological levels. Still, for Obama, it beats talking about the
economy, jobs, the deficit, and anything else thatactually matters to voters.

The morn' that I was born my old man beat up the doctor
He clocked the doctor cause the doctor said I looked like Chewbacca
The doctor said sir you're misled sir which infers you mistook me
I did not mean your lovely wife was shackin' up with a wookie
What I mean is Wolverine is less hairy than your son
He's looks like Chewie Baba Booey Baba Booey and Hong Kong Phooey all in one

To put it mild your new-born child's completely nutty fu-fu lookin'
I'd shove him back into the oven until he is done cookin'

I got a schnoz like the 'Cos' but there's a lot more wrong with you
So back me up Bill yea and you're ugly too
So what if I brush my teeth with a piece of cheddar cheese
Or where a fish net shirt by Chams with my Sergio Valenti jeans
And my mirror never lies but it always verifies
I got more cheese and pepperoni than a homemade pizza pie
You compare me to a Monchichi but I don't understand

Why I'm scorned like I'm deformed like the Elephant Man
And yea I took my mom to the prom but hey she asked me first
But at least this time I didn't find my date in the back of a hearse
About as popular with the girls with Englebert Humperdink
And that might be 'cause everybody calls me Shrinky Dink
I know I'm known as Polaroid I'm not a total retard
It's cause I'm done in sixty seconds and you'll still want it enlarged

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?
Cause ya wore velour flares until the late Eighties

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?
Cause you run like a girl and sit down to pee

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?
Cause your only school chum was the lunch lady

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?
You took your mom to the prom but still got lucky

Like that episode where Gilligan gets sick of being teased
And he breaks into the Professor's lab and makes some LSD
Peaks freaks and eats the Skipper's brains then beats Ginger with coconuts
As Mr. Howell and Lovey burn alive inside their grass hut
Oh he'll kill again that Gilligan they he should of let him be
And like a postal clerk I'll go beserk if you don't stop teasing me
See the trick is only pick on those that can't do you no harm

Like the drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm
The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?

Cause my fifteen year-old cousin has less acne

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?

Ain't brushed them teeth since 1983

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?

Cause you got the grooming habits of a chimpanzee

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?

Cause you're white but you got a nose like Bill Cosby

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?

Cause ya wore velour flares until the late Eighties

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?

Cause you run like a girl and sit down to pee

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?
Cause your only school chum was the lunch lady

But why's everbody always pickin' on me?
Cause no one likes you monkey boy.